A CONVICTED paedophile from Macclesfield has said that he is considering taking legal action after finding himself at the centre of a storm in the popular seaside resort of Southport.

The town of Macclesfield was in a state of shock when Russell Kellar, a popular businessman, pleaded guilty at Chester Crown Court in 2005 to nine offences of indecent assault and one account of sexual assault involving two underage girls.

The man, who is now in his fifties and formerly ran a menswear shop on Chester-gate while living in a £600,000 property in Park Lane, Macclesfield, was well known in the town for his charity work. He was sentenced to four years in jail with a four-year extended licence period at Chester Crown Court. He was also told to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

However, in July 2007 he successfully appealed against the length of his sentence and had it cut by a quarter. That meant he would only serve half of his sentence before he could apply for parole.

His address at that time was given as Southport, Merseyside – the town where he now finds himself embroiled in controversy.

For it has been claimed this week that Kellar has been sacked from pubs across the seaside town – where he was apparently working as a karaoke DJ under the name of Russell Diamond – after his past came to light.

There is no suggestion that he had been working with under 18s or doing anything wrong, but the owners of at least two bars have said that the discovery of Mr Kellar’s past had resulted in a decision to no longer employ him.

Rob Smallman, owner of Rueters Bar and Brasserie in Southport, hired the DJ to run a weekly karaoke night.

He said: "We had no idea about his past. When it was pointed out to us, he was sacked immediately. We do not want people like that working at Rueters."

It is understood that the former businessman has also been dismissed from a similar DJ role at The Imperial Hotel in the town.